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Sunday, June 19, 2016

Stack Rundown, 06/19/2016

I'm too lazy to check, but I'm pretty sure that I read more DC titles this week than I have in a very long time. I guess Rebirth continues to work?

Green Arrow #1

Said it before, but this has become one of the most pleasant surprises out of Rebirth. I even went back to the first couple issues of the last volume written by Percy and confirmed that I still thought they were garbage. I don’t know what happened, other than Black Canary. This issue followed the Rebirth one-shot, was a little less heavy handed, and had some genuine twists that made me say “oh shit.” Basically, there’s a secret cabal out to get Oliver Queen… sort of like the Court of Owls, and given the stuff that came from Robin War, the Court of Owls actually is in on it. But yeah… this book is good, and very surprising how good it is.

Justice League #51

Prequel to the Titans Rebirth special which is a prequel to the Titans series that takes place because of Rebirth! I don’t know! Figured I was giving Titans a shot so I picked this up, and it’s basically Dick Grayson’s introduction to the Justice League. Found Dick to be a little too self conscious, because even if he’s meeting the League for the first time, you always got a sense of that confidence from Dick, even as Robin. Loved the art this issue. Paul Pelletier has been getting a rotating list of inkers on his DC work, but I think Sandra Hope definitely should be the one to continue on his pencils, she really compliments his work.

Titans: Rebirth #1

WHY IS IT EVERY CHARACTER WITH A BOW AND ARROW GETS THEIR COSTUME REDESIGNED AND IT INCLUDES STUPID FUCKING SUNGLASSES?! This is one of my most ridiculous minuscule pet peeves, but good god. Hawkeye always looks stupid with sunglasses and somehow Roy Harper has now one-upped him with stupid mono glasses that look like they’d be more appropriate on a Cyclops costume. What’s wrong with a domino mask? Why are we so attached to the hat? Did Green Arrow every where sunglasses? No! …it was an okay issue though. Liked it. Basically just Wally touching his friends and then they feel all special inside. Not lying.

Green Lanterns #1

So I’ve been pretty high on Rebirth lately, but maybe I’m letting hype get to me. My biggest question was if I really care about the Green Lanterns again. Like, this issue was okay, maybe the banter between the two GLs was a little bit goofy, but the book could be doing cool stuff with the mythology… but do I REALLY care again? I’ll stick around a little bit. That said, I don’t think the art was so hot. Rocha has been one of those artists always filling in here and there, but has never stuck me as a top guy, you know? Lots of weird facial expressions for my taste.

Superman #1

On one hand, Tomasi and Gleason’s Batman and Robin focusing on the father/son relationship between Bruce and Damian was pretty great, on the other hand, I worry that they might just be going back to the well again… especially when there was that story with Damian having powers… and I just remembered Damian had powers. What the fuck. New 52 seems like a fever dream at this point. ANYWAYS. That said, I thought this was a good issue. The average “Superman punching Braniac” stories don’t do much for me, so the relationship between Clark and Jon might be the anchor that keeps me invested int he book. We’ll see.

New Suicide Squad #21

Oh, Tim Seeley written Suicide Squad, what could have been. Seemed like the perfect idea and then we find out it’s just a placeholder arc to wrap the old series up. SIGH. I mean, it wrapped up. Considering there’s a relaunch coming in a month or two, it’s not like this is going to matter a whole lot, which is sad. That said, Tim Seeley has already said he’s got a goal to write Harley again, and that’s a goal I support.

Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade #1

So this was an interesting announcement. Prequel to The Dark Knight Returns, showing Jason Todd in this universe, drawn by JRJR, who is working with Miller again for the first time since their Daredevil books. I read it and ended up thinking “that was it?” There’s basically nothing different outside of the circumstances of Jason’s death. No new unique take, no twists… Jason is just the Robin who was sort of violent and out of control, and he gets offended by Bruce’s thoughts on him, goes out to prove himself, gets himself killed, the end. Jason is the violent Robin who gets killed by the Joker. That’s it! That’s all it was before! I don’t know. Art did look great though, and I’d argue that JRJR is probably who should have been drawing DKIII. Not to take away anything from Andy Kubert who has done a great job, but JRJR’s art just fit way more stylistically to TDKR.

Invincible #129

I honestly just thought of repeating the word “drama” over and over again for this write up, because you know, drama. I’ve gone through a whirlwind of emotions these past couple issues. Dropped it. Decided to read it again. And now faced with even more crazy drama, I think I just have Stockholm syndrome now and I’m just going with it. Remember that thing that happened to Mark? …of the many, but that ONE thing? What’s the most dramatic thing that could have come from that? YEP.

Low #14

Remember when this book was weird for a Rick Remender written title because the main character was such an optimist. Sure, bad things happened, but Stel was still so hopeful… yeah, now 14 issues later, you figure out that her family is completely fucked sideways. One daughter just left the other for dead with intent on killing her mother… I think? I mean, that’s pretty much what it seems like, so I’ll just go with that. Yeah. Messed up shit all around.

Descender #12

So this was the issue where you’re told why the evil Tim hates people and wants to kill good Tim. Surprise, robot hates humans because they were shitty to him, what else is new?